1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a connector device, and more particularly to a connector device for connecting a sheathed wire, connected to a control element of a hydraulic circuit mounted within a housing of an automatic transmission, to a control device provided outside of the housing.
2. Background
A conventional automatic transmission includes a torque converter and a gear change mechanism, and the rotation of an engine, outputted through a crankshaft, is transmitted to an input shaft through the torque converter, and is further transmitted to the gear change mechanism.
A multiple disc brake or a multi-disc clutch is provided in the gear change mechanism, and the gears are changed by engaging and disengaging this frictional engagement device.
The engagement and disengagement of these elements is effected by a hydraulic circuit, and a valve, a hydraulic servo motor, an accumulator and so on are provided in the hydraulic circuit, and a solenoid valve is provided for producing hydraulic signals for these elements.
A solenoid for actuating the solenoid valve is attached to a valve body, and the solenoid is housed in a transmission casing. Therefore, the solenoid valve, a hydraulic sensor and so on are connected to a controller through an opening formed in the transmission casing. A sealer is provided integrally in a connector mounted in this opening so that oil in an oil pan will not leak through the interior of the connector to the outside of the transmission casing by the capillary action.
One such conventional connector is shown in FIG. 5, which is a cross-sectional view thereof. In this Figure, a tubular casing 51 has at one end thereof an insertion hole 53 for receiving wires 52, and also has at the other end a terminal hole 55 for receiving terminals 54. A partition wall 56 is formed at a central portion of the interior of the casing 51, and a plurality of terminal passage holes 57 are formed through this partition wall 56.
Each of the wires 52 comprises a sheathed wire, and a sheath-peeled portion thereof is connected to a respective one of the terminals 54 by clamping or the like. The terminals 54 are passed through the terminal passage holes 57, respectively, and then a resin 58 serving as a sealer is poured into the casing to fill the casing, so that the wires 52 and the terminals 54 are fixedly secured to the casing 51 by the resin 58.
In the above conventional technique, however, the liquid-state resin sealer, when poured into the casing, often leaks through a gap between each terminal passage hole 57, formed through the terminal support wall 56 within the housing casing 51, and the associated terminal 54, extending through the terminal passage hole 57, to a fitting surface of the terminal support wall 56. More specifically, the resin 58 flows from the insertion hole 53 to the terminal hole 55 through the gap between the terminal passage hole 57 in the partition wall 56 and the terminal 54, thus forming a bulged flow-out portion 60A at a region between the surface of the terminal 54 and the outer surface of the partition wall 56, as shown at a left portion of FIG. 6. This flow-out portion 60A is formed into an agglomerate upon curing of the resin. This agglomerate of the resin is an obstacle to the advance of a guide portion of a mating connector housing C51, so that the connector device C50 and the mating connector C51 cannot be completely fitted together.
Furthermore, as shown at a right portion of FIG. 6, the leaked liquid-state sealer spreads or diffuses over the surface of the front end portion of the terminal 54 to form a covering layer 60B thereon, so that there is a possibility that the terminal 62 incompletely contacts a mating terminal.
Recently, automatic transmissions have advanced in quality, and not only electric parts but also sensors and electrically-operated actuators have been extensively used, so that the number of wires inserted into connector devices has increased. With the increase in the number of the wires, the number of wire insertion holes increases, and the leakage of liquid-state sealer may also increase.